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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24307543">The Cat Returns (Home)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JotTheDragonScribe/pseuds/JotTheDragonScribe'>JotTheDragonScribe</a>, <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JotTheDragonScribe/pseuds/The%20Bloodhound'>The Bloodhound (JotTheDragonScribe)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 2, Persona 5, Persona Series</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Akechi And Akira go to juvenile hall, Akira is farsighted and needs glasses, Anthro AU, Anthro Animals AU, Anthropomorphic Animals AU, Eternal Punishment happened but the main cast of Innocent Sin keep their memories, F/M, Gen, Kurosu Jun &amp; Suou Tatsuya Are the Parents of Persona 5 Protagonist, Lisa Silverman &amp; Kurosu Jun &amp; Suou Tatsuya are the Parents of the Persona 5 Protagonist, M/M, Post-P5R, Potential Persona 5 Spoilers, Product Displacement used as comedy not to actually avoid copyright infringement, akechi is alive, with some probable changes since i only know the end of Maruki's bit from random videos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 03:09:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,296</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24307543</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JotTheDragonScribe/pseuds/JotTheDragonScribe, https://archiveofourown.org/users/JotTheDragonScribe/pseuds/The%20Bloodhound</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A year has passed. It's time for Akira to return home, leaving all his adventures in Tokyo behind.<br/>He's worked through all his sadness. There's just... Three problems still remaining.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akechi Goro &amp; Kurusu Akira, Kurosu Jun/Suou Tatsuya, Kurosu Jun/Suou Tatsuya/Lisa Silverman, Kurusu Akira &amp; Morgana, Kurusu Akira &amp; The other phantom thieves, Lisa Silverman/Suou Tatsuya</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>39</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. What do you mean you told my parents</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Why an anthro au, you may ask? Well, my favourite persona 2 fanfic featured Akira, Jun and Tatsuya as anthros. When I first found it, I promptly made an airhorn noise with my throat and proceeded to read it five times. However, it's been deleted, I think, and I'll never read it again. So here's my sort-of tribute to it.<br/>Why Jun, Tatsuya AND Lisa? It bothered me that so much fanwork completely throws way Lisa's character and portrays her as the jealous straight girl when she is so much more. Also Tatsuya has two hands.<br/>Animal list at the end.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Uncool, mister head of the youth detention center.<br/>Or,<br/>Akira spends his days in juvie, completely forgetting about the obvious fact that they're going to inform his parents that he's been arrested AGAIN.<br/>Even if your parents are persona users, how the hell do you tell them about... Everything that entails being a phantom thief?</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Re.: Lions purring.<br/>I've checked the web. Most sites say no big cat can purr, this one site says lions purr. So, I've decided that Lisa hums (like all the sites say these felines do) but Tatsuya still purrs. He's a master of impressions, after all, and he discovered it calmed little kitten Akira, so it stuck. Unlike his son, it's manual, but he still uses it to convey happiness sometimes. Easier than words.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"And that's why Feather Dooka is, in fact, the reincarnation of Red Hawk."<br/>
"Of all the Featherman theories you've spouted for the last 30 minutes, that may just be the most doltish one. I am in awe."</p><p>The young Norwegian Forest cat of pure black fur chuckled to himself, leaning back on his chair as the white crow before him sighed in exhasperation with his talons to his temples.<br/>
In their confinement in juvenile hall, they had found each other's company a solace from the presence of the other juvenile criminals. Murder and vigilante justice are a lot different from stealing cars or robbing old ladies. </p><p>Sure, their rivalry was as strong as ever. Anything Akira said, Akechi found utterly irritating, but damnit, he wasn't going to play chess with <i>Takechi</i>, the idiot who tried robbing a bank so he could buy the new Jin Mogamey Denzei game on the Bwitch. It wasn't even out, dumbass.</p><p>During these past few weeks, they had managed to watch every single episode of Phoenix Featherman Rangers, seasons one through five, and as such their conversations always seem to end in the same place.<br/>
"Just think about it-", Akira continued with an amused purr, but was promptly interrupted by one of the guards.<br/>
"Kurusu. You have visitors by the main gate."</p><p>Such an announcement surprised Akira. Visitors? He hadn't had any visitors since he had been arrested, with the exception of a visit from Sojiro. And even then, the young cat had been told they had barely let the old crocodile in.<br/>
"I wonder who's so important that they are let in more easily than your own probation guardian. Perhaps our dear prosecutor Nijima?", commented Akechi, echoing Akira's own thoughts.<br/>
The two teens stared at the guard, expecting any sort of further explanation, but he only turned around and left the room, waiting to guide the prisioner to the visitor's hall. </p><p>Shrugging, the cat got up from his seat and followed the guard, Akechi following as well if only to sate his curiosity. He was well aware they weren't going to let him, either way.<br/>
One of the corridors they went through had large windows that allowed to see past the courtyard and into the visitor's waiting hall. Why such a design existed, they couldn't explain, but it allowed the two teens to spot three shapes sitting down in the uncomfortable chairs, waiting patiently for their turn to enter.</p><p>The two teens froze on the spot. Akechi, for he was seeing, with his own two eyes, the tallest and bulkiest man he had ever encountered. Height was hard to judge from a distance, but the imposing lion easily dwarfed the black and white hare beside him, as did the slightly-less imposing lioness beside the two. Akechi, who could be considered a small animal, was no taller than 1m60, much to his chagrin, and would easily place the lion above two meters twenty. A fair amount more than a regular lion. What was such a hulking brute doing in a place like that? The metaphorical older brother of a teen criminal involved with the mafia? The red bike jacket, with a black cross design, sure seemed to indicate so.</p><p>It was not the case. The reason Akira froze in place, was because he recognized the people in that waiting hall as his parents. From such a distance, there would've have been some room for doubt, but he was sure the odd group had to be his guardians. The last people he wanted to be informed of his arrest, and the absolutely last people he wanted to explain the big damn mess that was his probation to.<br/>
In all honesty, he should have expected this. Of course they'd inform his parents that he had been arrested once more, but with everything that had gone during the past few months, including, but not limited to, killing a god of control and then stopping his school psychiatrist from giving everyone a hollow happy ending, it hadn't crossed his mind.</p><p>"I wonder if that brute is here to pass along some weapons or something to a fellow member of some mafia?", Akechi voiced his theories as they continued on their way, after the guard had coughed quite loudly to call their attention. Akira did a double take.<br/>
"That brute? You mean the lion in the red motorcycle jacket?", the black cat asked, ear flicking forward in confusion. "Do you see any other giant animals on the other side?", Akechi asked, crossing his arms in unamused impatience. </p><p>Akira was silent for a while, shocked at the prospect of anyone confusing his silent, gentle father for a mobster. "That's my dad, Akechi. He's a police detective", explained Akira, supressing a guffaw of surprise.<br/>
Now it was Akechi's turn to be silent for a while, eyes as wide as plates. He stared between the cat (a small animal) and the lion (built like a tractor), wondering what kind of genetics had happened there. Hell, wondering who the hell the mother was. Was the other parent the hare, who looked rather androgynous from where they stood, or the lioness who was also rather strong-looking and tall? No matter what Punnett squares the crow did in his mind, the only answers he found were question marks, upside down questions marks and sometimes question marks with exclamation points.</p><p>Akira, ever the trickster, decided not to explain that the three visitors were his adoptive parents. Watching Akechi, the great second detective prince, rack his brain in the vain hope of finding an answer to this genetic conundrum, was the most amusing thing he had witnessed in a long while, and his whiskers trembled in amusement. It would've almost made him sad to think that Akechi could never think an orphan could have loving parents, but other things concerned the cat. For example, the impending confrontation with his parents, who had been kept in the dark about nearly everything from the last past year, aside from, perhaps, Morgana. Uncle Katsuya liked feral cats. </p><p>They came to the visiting room's door. Akechi gave Akira his passive-agressive wishes of good luck and then turned tail and marched on back to the library where they had just been, talons clicking on the floor with a sound that perfectly conveyed the crow's feelings of "I'm glad I'm not in your situation".</p><p>The guard let the once-feared, infamous leader of the phantom thieves into the sparcely decorated room. A void turning in his stomach due to his anxiety, Akira paced over to the grey, round table that stood at the center of the room, pulled out a chair, the one nearest the door he had just come through, and sat on it. The guard that lead him here stood at the door, ready to block any attempts of him escaping. Outside, so thought the guard, but Akira was ready to run back to the library with his tail between his legs just from the oppressive silence of the visitor's room. </p><p>Akira wrung his hands, self-confidence completely gone. In the eternity that passed until his parents were called, he managed to notice just how unkempt he was. Surrounded by other criminals, he had let himself go, hopelessness and the solitude of having only a snarky rival for companionship gnawing at his spirit. He wore a dark grey t-shirt that hadn't been washed since he'd been arrested, coupled with exercise pants of a very suspicious shade of green. Running his hand through his fur, he took notice of how matted it was. What was the last time he brushed it? Two, three weeks ago, for his court hearing? Akechi had really only warned him about his claws and his teeth. As a bird, he probably never took notice of the state of his friend's ("friend") fur, or if he did, probably didn't notice any changes. </p><p>His ears, tilted back, shifted to face forward as he caught the sound of footsteps approaching the other door, and tilted back just as quickly.<br/>
Akira thought back to the last time he'd been in a room like this, interrogated by some corrupt cops, then thought back further and further, to when he was a kitten in an orphanage, facing the two largest felines he'd ever seen in his life, and a white and black hare who looked like he could tell what kind of a person you were with just one glance. </p><p>The door opened. The first to enter was a tall lioness, rather muscular from her practice of martial arts, with two spiral horns atop her head being the only thing betraying the fact that she was a hybrid. She looked like she was ready to defeat every single guard in the establishment, every single attorney and every single politician for laying a finger on her son. And yet, when her gaze fell upon the scruffy black cat sitting at the table, her face softened as she hurried to his side, picking him up in a hug nearly tight enough to break a man's spine.<br/>
"Mauu Zi! Are you alright?! They didn't hurt you, did they?! Oh, what have these assholes done to my Akira, I swear I'll-", the lioness spoke, combing back Akira's fur as the teen simply hugged back his mother, all anxiety gone just like that.</p><p>The next one to enter, Akira only now noticing, was the hare, of black and white fur, one ear dropping over half of his face. His nose trembled anxiously, the other ear flattened back in alarm. This time, the tension in his face did not melt away as he confirmed his son was not in any danger, seeing as his mother was holding him in a bone shattering bear-hug.<br/>
"L-Lisa, I think you're hurting him", the hare warned, as the lioness put the cat down with muttered apologies. As she did, Akira turned to his father, who enveloped him in a much gentler hug before placing his paws on the other's cheeks, looking at him as if to confirm he hadn't been hurt. </p><p>The last to enter was his dad, the tall, well-built lion who startled Akechi and who just managed to squeeze past the small door frame. The extremely intimidating lion who, upon setting his eyes on his son, who he hadn't seen for a year, simply kneeled down to be leveled with him and pulled him into a hug, purring in the quiet manner that was so much like him. "You're okay", the lion spoke, "We missed you".</p><p>The guards made them actually sit down at the table and not stand around like dunces, if anything to prevent them from passing items to each other. Which the hare did. It was some sort of orange flower which meant "paternal love"... Or something of the sort. The guards didn't find it interesting or amusing.</p><p>"So," Begun the hare, which will now be referred to as Jun, as that was his name, "We take it you're actually the leader of these 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' that have been showing up on TV for the duration of your stay here in Tokyo?" Akira grinned sheepishly, whiskers twitching. "The rotten adults of this world tremble when they hear the name... Joker", he purred, nearly proud of himself.<br/>
The three animals on the other side of the table flinched at the name. The lioness, Lisa as she will now be called, sucked air in through her teeth. </p><p>"Yeah, Mauu Zi? Ix-nay on the Oker-Jay. You nearly gave us a heart attack when they said that on TV", Lisa said, reaching across the table to pat Akira's hand. The young cat's ear flicked in confusion, looking questioningly at his mother. "We had our own god-slaying adventures when we had your age, and let's leave it at that", the lioness explained, scratching the back of her head. Jun nodded as Tatsuya, the lion, flicked his lighter on and off. "You... Don't get a persona for nothing", Jun chuckled nervously, wringing his hands. </p><p>Tatsuya closed the cap of his lighter with a bit more force, to call the attention of the other three. "You could have told us", the lion said, as talkative as ever. Akira slumped down his chair, ears flattened back and arms crossed. "I never found a good way of telling you. Between school and the others always wanting new targets...", the cat's ear flicked as he looked down, "And then Sojiro found Futaba's calling card". Akira ran a hand through the fur on top of his head, combing it back. "He didn't take the news too well, and I was scared you were gonna worry-" he gestured with his hand, "-even more, because you're actually persona users and knew firsthand what I was facing".</p><p>"Of course we were worried. All of these things happening near you... What if you got caught in the crossfire?" Jun explained, ears lifting slightly to punctuate his alarm, "Knowing you were actually the one causing them would've made it a little easier on us". Tatsuya once more contributed to the conversation with a "We could have helped if you needed us". Wow, he really was chatty today. </p><p>Akira sighed, sitting up in his chair. Clasping his hands over the table, he looked at each of his parents, before deciding on staring at his paws. "I can tell you, now. What actually happened, not what the cops told you", the cat said, looking up once more. Lisa smiled, encouragingly, and nodded. "Never trust a cop", she said, jokingly. Tatsuya guffawed, dropping the lighter he had been consistently fiddling and spurring everyone else to laugh as well.</p><p>--<br/>
The reader certainly knows of Akira Silver-Kurusu's (what a name, wouldn't you agree?) exploits, so the teen's comprehensive retelling of them will be skipped. His loving and understanding parents, who had exploits of their own at his age, kept quiet for the most part. With the exception of asking about his new glasses (they had been broken during his interrogation, Sojiro had gotten them fixed).</p><p>The presence of the guards didn't bother him. He just said what he had told the police, with some unnecessary details about his regular, day-to-day life. His parents were quite happy about him being top of the class, hitting a lot of homeruns in the batting cages, and catching the biggest fish at the fishing pond, and... Achieving... Inner peace? Very nice, Akira, yes.<br/>
Oh, and acquiring a souvenir collection that would be the envy of any american tourist. A collection that would need about seven people to be carried. His parents were slightly concerned about moving all that from Tokyo to Sumaru city.</p><p>When he finished, he waited patiently for his parents to react. He could tell they were concerned about their son's adventures but... Also proud of the fact that he shot a god through the head. Whatever they had against gods trying to alter reality, Akira sure was thankful it worked in his favour. Yet... There was... Something simmering below their calm demeanor-<br/>
"They <i>drugged you and beat you up</i>?!" Lisa, in a growl that nearly grew into a roar.</p><p>Ah, right. That was the reason he didn't want them to find out.</p><p>"Akira! Tell me who they are, give me names- Describe their faces to me!", the lioness growled, sharp teeth in full display. Her claws scratched the top of the table. "I'm gonna- Gut them and shatter every bone in-"<br/>
"<i>Lisa</i>" Jun called, placing his paw gently over the lioness'. He stared straight forward at nowhere in particular, with a dark look in his eyes. It showed he'd be willing to enact revenge, but smartly. No witnesses. No proof.<br/>
The guards traded terrified looks between themselves. Were they hoping that the 'heart-stealing powers' weren't hediterary, perhaps?<br/>
When Akira realized the low rumbling sound was the lion growling as well, he knew he had to intervene.</p><p>"The cops that interrogated me are already in prison and serving time." Hastily corrected Akira, putting up his paws in a placating manner. "Please... I don't want anyone else dead". He shuddered when he remembered Okumura... And poor Haru. He knew the CEO wasn't the best of fathers, not even a mediocre father, frankly, but the away it affected his friend...<br/>
The three looked at him with understanding looks, trading gazes between each other. </p><p>"It wasn't your fault, Akira." Lisa said, with a certain weight behind those words that Akira could not decipher, "We'll- Drop that aside, for now".<br/>
Jun nodded, finally unclasping his hands. "We always trusted that you had only the best intentions in mind, Akira", the hare said, reaching to hold one of his son's paws in his own. "But-", Tatsuya started, interrupted by the grating chime of an alarm clock.</p><p>"Visiting time is up", was all one of the guards said. The other one looked slightly betrayed. Akira wondered if they took turns saying that and the guard that brought him here just broke that sacred rule. Conflict was brewing within the guards of the juvenille hall.</p><p>"... You said Mr. Sakura told you that your friends on the outside were doing their best to free you, yes?", Jun asked, sparing only a glance to the approaching guard. Akira nodded, getting up from his chair. "We'll do the same... I'll see what I can do back at the precinct", Tatsuya spoke, going around the table to ruffle his son's fur.<br/>
"I'll try to get your teachers to release an official statement. You were always an excellent, upstanding student."<br/>
"I'll tell Maya and Yukino about it and we'll come break you out ourselves!"<br/>
"<i>Lisa.</i>"<br/>
"Maya would drive her car into the side... Opening a hole in the wall..."<br/>
"<i>Tatsuya,</i>"</p><p>Akira chuckled, going for a final round of hugs before he had to part ways with his parents again. As Lisa put him down, guards side-eyeing her nervously, she crouched slightly to look him in the eye. "I'd say you're one reckless cat, Mauu Zi, but we'll lecture you when you're back home. For now-", the lioness said, placing a light kiss on the cat's forehead, "-Know that we're really proud of you. For doing what's right, and all that".</p><p>The outside guard ushered them out the door with as much confidence and courage as he could muster, as Jun bid his farewells with a "We look forward to meeting the rest of the Phantom Thieves!".<br/>
Akira sincerely hoped, from the bottom of his heart, with as much love for his friends as anyone could ever have, that it never came to that. On his way back to the library (for one more round of his favourite pasttime, Let's Annoy Akechi 3: Dumb Featherman Theories), the young cat took solace in the fact that his friends lived in Tokyo, and he lived in Sumaru city. </p><p>Yeah, it would never come to that.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Animal List<br/>--------<br/>Akira: Norwegian Forest Cat, Black<br/>Akechi: Large-Billed Crow, Leucistic<br/>Lisa: Lioness/Mountain Bongo (yes, that is an animal) hybrid. Mostly lioness, has the horns and a short mane.<br/>Tatsuya: Barbary Lion. Has a dark red mane.<br/>Jun: Sort of a Hare/Rabbit hybrid, where the only Rabbit part of him is the fur colour. Has a lame ear that hangs over his face.<br/>Sojiro: Mugger Crocodile</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Dinner at the Flowershop</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The teenage leader of the phantom thieves managed to soothe his parent's worries.<br/>Now, he had to face a greater challenge.<br/>Somehow make sure neither his parents nor his friends embarrassed him.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Some notes.<br/>There are anthro animals (people) and non-anthro animals (ferals). Ferals are basically normal animals, not sapient, with the exception of Morgana, as you may have guessed. An anthro cat and a feral cat are both "cats", in physical appearance, but they aren't the same species. It's not looked down upon to have a pet, provided it is a domestic animal. Morgana here treats Akira like a little brother, since they are both cats.<br/>Other note.<br/>Lisa and Jun are married, but it's a civil marriage with the only purpose being them being able to adopt Akira more easily. They aren't actually attracted to each other, but are still best friends and Lisa thought it would be unfair to Jun if she was the one to marry Tatsuya legally. Tatsuya is married to them both, but by ceremony only.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
It came to that.</p><p>Now, Akira was forever thankful for all the work his close friends and confidants put into getting him released and for driving him back while carrying all his souvenirs instead of him having to somehow fit them all in the small train compartment, yadda yadda.<br/>
And of course he loved his friends. Obviously, no doubt.</p><p>But they were a mess. A mess he didn't want to bring home to his parents.</p><p>Makoto was fine, for the most part. She knew how to behave. Hell, Akira could bet his dad and mom were gonna love this motorbike-riding, martial arts practicing armadillo.<br/>
Haru was fine too. She was elegant, polite, and she managed to keep her sadistic nature to mementos and palaces, so it was all good.<br/>
Yusuke, despite being a fox, look scarily like his father. Akira couldn't even explain how. Was it the shape of his snout, his mannerisms, his lankiness, his passive weirdness? Ah, his weirdness. His father was weird, but Akira doubted they were a compatible type of weird.<br/>
Ryuji was going to be all weird about him having three parents (two fathers and a mother). He just knew he was. Ryuji was a good guy, but he didn't know tact. Akira fondly remembered the half-hour they spent at the bathhouse of Ryuji telling him how cool and ok he was with the cat not being interested in ogling at girls.<br/>
Ann would eat them out of house and home. That was all the problems he could find. Good job, Ann. Oh, maybe she would try and speak in english to his mom? But that would be farfetched and Ann deserved the benefit of the doubt.<br/>
Futaba. Futaba would start arguing about season five of Phoenix Featherman against his season-two-only parents. It would be chaos, he could sense it. Third eye predictions coming right through we have an one hundred percent chance of discourse about Featherman. Also she'd maybe use some internet slang and confuse his poor parents who had to go to a cafe to use the computer when they were his age.<br/>
Morgana was a feral cat and his parents couldn't hear him. All was well.<br/>
Akechi was still in juvenile hall (apparently now helping Takechi complete Jin Mogamey Denzei 3: Nightly) and Sumire was busy with competitions, so neither could come. Shame, because he actually trusted them to behave. Or at least put up a polite front, in Akechi's case.</p><p>If he had any idea his friends were planning to surprise him by driving him back home, he would've planned this meeting months before. He would've strategized more for this meeting than he ever did for any palace. But they caught him by surprise, and now he walked through his death row (his neighbourhood), inching ever closer to the gallows (his house) with a parade of executioners behind him (his friends, struggling to help him carry all his luggage), thoughts racing through his head.</p><p>Akira snuck a glance over his shoulder. Ryuji and Ann were carrying the enormous chocolate fountain between them. They were trying their darned best to coordinate their steps. It wasn't working too well. Makoto was carrying the Actual God Forsaken Statue that Yusuke got him by herself. You couldn't even see her behind it. Haru was trying to find a good way to carry the enormous plush mascot he got from the batting cages. There was no plush more unweildy than that adorable blue cat in a baseball uniform. Futaba was carrying so many bags full of the smaller souvenirs that she had three hanging from her tail. Reptile tails were pretty strong, Akira was impressed. But that's not the point.</p><p>The point was, that after everything they had done, it would be pretty rude to just go "Well, thanks! See ya! Don't forget to write!" when they got to his house. He would have to invite them in. There was no other way around it.<br/>
"What's up? You're looking a bit frazzled. Are you worried your parents are gonna embarrass you?", Morgana asked him in a mutter, poking his head out of Akira's trusted duffel bag.</p><p>Oh no. Jesus. Akira had forgotten about that part.</p><p>The young cat had been so focused on the prospect of his friends being weird that he completely forgotten that his parents were much, much, Much, weirder.<br/>
Tatsuya was tall enough to hit his head on every door and he talked as much as a feral sloth, with the occasional muttered pearl of wisdom or uncanny construction noise impression.<br/>
Jun just had to read everyone's horoscopes and assign a flower to them, and that was when he didn't retreat to the depths of their house after having just about enough social interaction.<br/>
Lisa would throw random cantonese words into every sentence. His mom may be extroverted enough to compensate for her husbands, but she was... A tad too extroverted. Also she'd demonstrate her kung fu moves at the slightest mention of martial arts. She broke a chair that way once. Uncle Eikichi started it.<br/>
Oh, heavens to murgatroyd, <em>did they invite uncle Eikichi?!</em> That hadn't even crossed his mind! How many members of his family (by association, uncle Katsuya was never invited directly) would be there?! Was auntie Maya gonna be there? Oh heavens above.</p><p>"Hey, calm down! Your tail is all fluffed up, the others are gonna notice!", Morgana warned him, climbing onto his shoulder and giving his ear a comforting lick. "I'm sure your parents are good people. They agreed to take me in without even a second to doubt! So what if they're a little weird?", the feral tuxedo cat said, balancing himself on the teen's shoulder. "Morgana, you don't understand-", Akira whispered between gritted teeth, as he heard Yusuke the others gaining ground on him, "- if season five of Featherman is barely even mentioned, all hell breaks loose". Morgana huffed incredulously, ears twitching in curiosity. "Why would that show even come up? You worry too much...", his gaze turned to the stores on the other side of the street as he leaned forward a bit, "Oh! That's it, right? 'Cross Fortune Flowers'...", Morgana read, voice fading into a tone of confusion at the name, before correcting himself, "Ah, a... Very lovely name! Your father is very creative!".</p><p>Akira paused in front of the store, just across the street, gesturing to his friends to put all the luggage down for a second.<br/>
"Thank you all-", Akira said, confidence gained momentarily if only to talk to his troupe, "-for coming with me, and helping me out. I'd like to invite you all inside". The young cat made a large gesture towards to store, everyone's eyes following his movement, settling on the quaint flower store. They all expressed agreement, murmuring between themselves. "However," Akira interrupted them, putting his paws together, "I... have to warn you. My parents are a bit... Unusual".</p><p>Akira realized too late he was talking to a group whose parent-per-capita ratio was way below average. Thankfully, Ann was there for him.<br/>
"Everyone's parents are a bit weird, Joker! We'll understand, no matter what they do. There's no need to be embarrassed", the gryphon assured him, slowly putting down the gargantuan chocolate fountain. Akira pointed with a finger, grimacing. "Right. Don't call me Joker in front of them, it's...", Akira moved his hand in circles, trying to explain something that not even he knew the reason to, "Complicated".<br/>
"Well, uh... Still! I bet your mom and dad are great folks! They raised you, right", said Ryuji, scratching his head just below his horns. Akira pointed again.<br/>
"Right. They're three, Ryuji. Two dads. One mom"<br/>
"Oh-uh-oh-uhm, I. I mean. Modern times, right. And that's cool. And I, uh, support you, and I support-"<br/>
"Ryuji."<br/>
"Yes."<br/>
"Don't say that in front of them"<br/>
"Copy that."</p><p>From the other side of the street, a lion watched them through the window.<br/>
"Chinyan? What are you looking at?", Lisa asked, carrying a box of tulips from their backyard to the front of the store. The store was closed during winter, so it would give their backyard's soil a chance to breathe, but spring was fast approaching and Jun needed every helping hand in order to get things ready for the business boom of father's day and mother's day. Well, they opened for Valentine's Day as well, but that doesn't really matter now.<br/>
"Akira is there", Tatsuya replied, tapping the window with a claw, "Across the street", he looked back towards his wife, "He's talking with some people".<br/>
Lisa placed the box on top of the counter and approached the window, dusting off her hands before placing them on her hips. She leaned forward a bit, squinting her eyes until she could confirm that the black fluffy cat across the street was their son.<br/>
"...Sure is", she concured, nodding her head, "...Wasn't he coming by train?"<br/>
"Guess not."<br/>
"Yeah... Think those are his friends?"<br/>
"The ones carrying all that stuff?"<br/>
"Who else?"<br/>
"... Yeah, probably"</p><p>The backdoor creaked as it opened, letting a white and black hare in. Jun hung his sun hat on the hat rack as he came in from their backyard, no doubt investigating why the lioness hadn't come back to pick up the other boxes. He found his spouses staring out the window just above the front door, very conspicuously.<br/>
"What's... going on outside?", he asked, moving around the counter to meet them by the front door. The hare was too short to look through the same window as the other two, so he settled for looking out the big store window. They were already being obvious, anyway.<br/>
"Akira's outside, he's talking to his friends", explained Lisa, never breaking her stare. Akira was gesturing a lot, seemingly trying to calm down an iguana girl who was also furiously gesturing. The bags she was carrying were now on the floor around her to allow for better range of motion. Akira spread out his hands in front of him in a placating manner, but the girl completely ignored it.<br/>
"What is going on out there?", Jun repeated to himself, now in an incredulous manner, unable to stop himself from staring out the window. One of Akira's friends, looking around, seemed to stop their gaze right on the flower shop. Jun could not help but match it. The word 'doppelganger' had sure come up a lot during his youth, but good heavens above, he never thought it would apply to a <em>fox</em>. What was even so similar between the two that gave him that eery emptiness in his stomach? What similarities could you even draw between a fox and a hare? Jun found solace in the fact the other two seemed to agree with him, looking back and forth between their husband and Akira's friend.<br/>
The fox in question did study them back for a bit, switching the bags he carried between paws, but soon grew tired of the three numbskulls just gawking at them, thus pointing and calling out something to the others.</p><p>Uh-oh.</p><p>Narrowly resisting the lagomorphic urge of jumping over the counter, Jun made a mad dash for the door, shouldering it open and rolling outside.<br/>
Spread out starfish style, surrounded by beds of flowers, Jun quickly came to the conclusion he may have overreacted a tad.<br/>
The lioness wasn't far behind him, coming through the door with an impressive lunge. In a not-so-impressive manner, she was startled to find Jun directly in her path of attack, tried to stop suddenly, tripped over her own feet and landed chin first, barely touching the hare. Jun tilted his head further backwards, seeing Lisa upside down, sprawled on the grass as well. He tried his best to surpass a giggle at the situation, failing miserably. The lioness smirked, flicking his snout before getting up with one smooth action, going around him to help him up.<br/>
Jun gladly took Lisa's hand and got up off the grass, dusting off his back from any specs of dirt. He looked around, realizing Tatsuya hadn't followed after them. "Don't tell me he-", Lisa said, turning her gaze to the backdoor.<br/>
-<br/>
"-and yeah, maybe there's some fanservice! Maybe that fanservice goes against the moral message the show is trying to give in a rather hypocritical manner, but does that ruin the entire show? Aren't the relationships between the characters important? And I tell you, Feather Alnair's scenes just show how comfortable she is with-", Futaba argued, waving her hands about to punctuate her points, when she was interrupted by Yusuke clearing his throat. They all turned to look at him, who in turn was turned to face the flower shop. A finger, ending in a curved, thin black claw, extended out of his hand, pointing towards it, but his long vulpine snout would have been enough indication of where to look. "Akira? There were some people inside just no-ooooh my god!". The fox, despite himself, shouted as he was startled by the large, imposing shadow that suddenly moved in front of the store's window, blocking their vision of its interior. The phantom thieves all took a step back, intimidated by the towering, backlit figure who stared them down, arms crossed. All the phantom thieves, with the exception of Akira, who knew very well who that was.</p><p>Unable to avoid his destiny any longer, the black cat lead his troupe <em>carefully</em> across the street, looking out for any cars, up to the store front. The sign in front of the door read 'Closed' in lovely cursive, but that never meant anything to him. With a deep breath, he reached out with one paw and turned the doorknob, confirming his father had unlocked the door for him.<br/>
He walked into the cozy, quiet store, immediately looking to his side to face his dad. The lion stood with hands in his pockets, wearing black jeans and an old, scratched dark-grey Neatloaf shirt. He always said Lisa and Jun made him keep it for the memory of the night he got black-out drunk, proposed to uncle Eikichi during a tour of his favourite singer (the Neatloaf mentioned in the shirt), and the two stayed married for a whole week until they realized weddings officialized by a shirtless stranger with glowing tattoos and a horn on the back of his head were not legally binding. Which happened, apparently, a month before the lion proposed to his Actual boyfriend and girlfriend. Wild tales.</p><p>Tatsuya offered Akira a big smile, going in for a hug before he noticed the other animals making their way through the door. Instead, he opted for a pat on the head and a "It's nice to have you back, Akira". Just as Akira's friends were wary of the lion for his stature, Tatsuya was wary of the amount of souvenirs they were bringing into his (rather small) house. A chocolate fountain nearly as tall as Akira? Where did he even get that?<br/>
"Dad, I introduce you the rest of the phantom thieves." Akira said, making a cerimonious circular motion with his hand, naming his friends as they walked inside, "Futaba, Yusuke, Haru, Makoto, Ann, Ryuji...". Morgana once again leapt out of the duffel bag on Akira's back onto his head, bowing his head in greeting. "And Morgana."<br/>
"Thank you for taking me in, sir! You are very kind!", Morgana meowed, staring up at the lion. Tatsuya, who understood nothing Morgana said, chuckled and scritched the feral cat's cheek with one claw. "Hello there. Hope you like the house." The lion said in a gentle tone, looking at the new house inhabitant but directed at all the animals struggling to fit in the small shop, "I'm Tatsuya, Akira's dad. It's nice to finally meet you".</p><p>Jun came through the backdoor yet again, removing some gardening gloves to pretend like he had been working outside the whole time, followed by Lisa, who was carrying another box. From beyond the sea of people and keepsakes in their store, they managed to spot their son near the door, next to Tatsuya.<br/>
"Akira! Hello, welcome home. I, ah, suppose these are your friends?", Jun asked, standing on the tip of his paws in order to be seen over the crowd. "Hey! Yeah, haha! This is Ryuji, Ann-", the black cat replied, once again introducing his friends who, once again as well, shared their greetings as their names were called. Lisa interrupted him. "Those things look heavy, actually! Why don't you drop them off in Mauu Z- I mean, Akira's bedroom?" The lioness suggested, to which all of the phantom thieves sheepishly agreed to. It was a long way from the nearest car park and the weight of all those mementos (hehehe) was really starting to make itself known. "I'll show you upstairs", Tatsuya called, opening a door in the side of the store, near the backyard door, that lead to a staircase.<br/>
The group followed him in the order that they had entered the store, leaving Ryuji and Ann for last, allowing them to lean closer to their leader with questioning looks.<br/>
"Mau... Zi?"<br/>
Akira's ears flattened to the side for a split second, in embarrassement.<br/>
"Oh, it's an affectionate nickname my mom calls me", he scratched the back of his head, "It means 'kitten' in Cantonese"<br/>
Ryujii and Ann let out intrigued 'oh's, looked at each other, nodded and went upstairs without any further word. Akira could tell they were trying, and failing, to laugh, though. Their shoulders were shaking from the effort.<br/>
"You could've left it at 'affectionate nickname' and saved face...", commented Morgana, leaning forward just enough to look at Akira. The fearsome leader of the phantom thieves sighed, closing his eyes. "Hindsight 20-20, Mona. Hindsight 20-20"</p><p>Akira didn't have much time to dwell in his own shame, for the lioness was already making a beeline for him, walking with as much purpose as the young cat had ever seen. Lisa picked him up with astounding ease and hugged him tightly, a hum rumbling in her chest. "My kitten is finally back home! I promise you, I'll <em>never</em> let another corrupt politician lay a finger on you!" Lisa spoke, holding onto Akira like he would vanish if she let go. Jun moved a stool near the duo in order to join the hug, one arm around the lioness' shoulder and the other around the cat. "We missed you. We really missed you, Akira", the hare spoke, resting his head on the cat's shoulder. There was still some lingering guilt in their tone, much like the day he left for Tokyo. There was no reason for them to blame themselves for something none of them could control, but Akira knew there was nothing he could say to make them feel better. So, the teen just hugged back.</p><p>Lisa held Akira below his arms, away from her, in order to look at his face. "You should invite your friends for dinner! Right, Jun?", she suggested, the spark of an idea shining in her eyes as she looked at the hare. Akira startled, his tail nearly fluffing up, interrupted only by a warning swat by Morgana. The feral cat, who had jumped from Akira's head to the counter, was right. Never let the enemy (well... Calling his parents enemies felt... Wrong) read you. That's half way to losing the battle. Jun's ear, the one that didn't fall over half of his face, cupped forward, his nose twitching rapidly in curiosity. Akira studied his expression closely. This would be his ticket out of a very embarrassing dinner; his father was very shy and would rather avoid social interaction with people he didn't know. A flash of doubt crossed his expression- This was it. This was the moment he had to-<br/>
"I would like to get to know your friends better, Akira. They seem like a lively bunch!", Jun concured, his ear tilting backwards in a relaxed manner.</p><p>The teen cat did his darndest not to show how despodent those two sentences made him. He did a pretty good job, all things considered; his ears didn't flatten back, he kept a soft smile, his claws were sheathed and his tail didn't fluff.<br/>
Ah, right, his tail.<br/>
Which was thrashing from side to side like a whip, the stupid thing. He could feel Morgana's eyes boring into his back. Oh, spare the judging looks, would you, you alley cat.</p><p>But Akira's lucky stars were looking out for him. His mother, with a furrowed brow, only thought he was growing upset from being held and gently let go of him. She had once told him how she found it weird how long he could stand being held - when she was a cub, she would immediately try to struggle herself out of her parents hold, no matter how affectionate. Guess that was the difference between big cats and small cats.<br/>
"Of course. I'm sure they would love to stay and eat with us." Akira said, internally doing some mental gymnastics to figure out which muscle was the off switch for his tail. "I'll go upstairs and ask them".<br/>
The cat marched on upstairs, Morgana jumping off the counter and meowing politely to the two adults before following his friend.</p><p>"He absolutely does <em>not</em> want us to get to know his friends, does he?"<br/>
"As if we didn't all have a ridiculous group of best friends when we were his age."<br/>
"Yeah... <em>Hey!</em>"<br/>
The hare giggled once more, covering his mouth with his paw.</p><p>--<br/>
Akira found his troupe in his bedroom, forming a half circle around his dad as he rested on one of the armchairs that the teen only used to throw clothes at. Right now, his bedroom was uncharacteristicly pristine, though. It was a small comfort, which really didn't make him feel any better after he heard what Tatsuya was telling them... Or rather, showing them.<br/>
"This one is from when he was seven", the lion spoke with a purr, pointing with a sharp claw to the book he was holding, "He had this phase where he chased after anything that moved and then gnawed on it..." He looked to the side to grab his own tail and hold it up, "I still have the scars to prove it".</p><p>If Akira could, he would have turned a very deep shade of red. His friends all leaned to look at the photo and muttered giggles amongst themselves. The cat took a deep breath, metaphorically puffing out his chest. He knew how to make himself look more confident even if, deep inside, he was not confident at all.<br/>
"You always told me you did way worse to uncle Katsuya." Akira pointed out, in his confident, leader-of-the-phantom-thieves voice, waltzing into the room. Tatsuya lifted his gaze from the book to smile back at him. "I did, you're right." The lion chuckled, eyes squinting at the fond memories, "He was always scared I was going to bite his tail off. One time, he left his guard down and jumped so high when I pounced on his tail he nearly hit the ceiling... Have you ever heard your uncle growl? He sounds like a broken engine". With another chortle, he put the photo book down and got up from the armchair, patting Akira's shoulder on his way out, muttering to himself about 'see if I have a picture of the time I did bite his tail off'.</p><p>Oh, so seeing his son again after a year warranted only a couple of words, but he used full sentences for embarrassing said son? How chatty <em>was</em> he feeling today?<br/>
"Hey, dude? Why does your dad have a photo book of only pom-poms?", Ryuji jokingly commented, pointing at one picture where little kitten Akira was looking particularly like a black ball of fur with some overalls on. "I was cute, wasn't I?" The teen purred, curling a strand of fur around his finger, "My parents asked if you want to stay over for dinner, by the way. Well... Insisted is a better word".<br/>
Haru was the first to reply, her ears lifting in surprise. "Oh, that would be lovely! Your parents sound like wonderful people-", her ears settled down again, and her tail stopped wagging, "-but... I don't want to be a hassle". The rest of the group agreed, reluctantly. They had manners, after all, even if they were maybe a teensy bit curious to see what kind of food Akira ate that gave him the dexterity to do all his phantom thief maneuvers.</p><p>"It's no hassle at all!", Lisa replied from the door, nearly giving everyone a heart attack, "We want to meet the fearsome phantom thieves, after all!". She looked at them with a giddy grin, and Akira was starting to think they had another Phantom Thief Fan on their paws. "Lots of style. Cool outfits. I have to admire that", Tatsuya commented from the living room, having apparently given up on his quest after Jun told him to not traumatize the gaggle of teens visiting their house.</p><p>Akira guessed they had settled their worries in the time between their last meeting and now, seeing as Lisa walked away saying "We will take your heart!" like it was some sentai show catchphrase. His fathers replied back with the same sentence.<br/>
"Ah, well, guess that's settled." Yusuke commented, his left ear twitching awkwardly, "Although I must admit, I wasn't expecting your parents to be fans...". "Yeah, geez... I'm even blushing! Do you think they collect merch?", Futaba asked, scratching just below her snout in a bashful manner. Her scales were a bit red, in fact.</p><p>Akira wouldn't put it past them.</p><p>Akira smiled to himself and decided to put all his doubt and self-conscious thoughts aside for the evening. These were his friends, after all. No matter how odd, he had to stand by them and not judge them as embarrassing. Also he had to do the same for his parents. Yeah, they raised him and all, and were good parents. Even if a bit unusual. Alright, problems swept under the rug. Time to entertain his troupe until dinner time. Preferrably, away from his kitten pictures. Those were still off limits.<br/>
--<br/>
After going around the city three times, they returned to the flowershop for dinner. Somehow, they narrowly avoided every single acquaintance of Akira's. The cat thanked whatever stars were looking out for him.<br/>
They helped set the table, with organization and teamwork worthy of their times of Thievery. They were all impressed at the table, who extended if you pulled on both sides of it. The height of table technology.<br/>
All the thieves made a line to wash their hands, they all sat down at the table, eagerly awaiting the grandiose meal that Akira's parents had no doubt prepared for him.<br/>
Tatsuya came out of the kitchen holding a family-sized pizza box and several family-sized Peace Burger boxes.<br/>
There was much rejoicing.</p><p>The conversations went smoothly, mostly just basic questions to get to know more about each of the Thieves. Meanwhile, Akira translated Morgana's explanations on the cognitive world to Jun, who decided not to ask why his son was pausing for his cat to meow before continuing his descriptions of his version of the other side.<br/>
"Did you catch any bad traffic?" Tatsuya asked between bites of his Triple Deluxe Special Edition Peace Burger, as one does. Makoto swallowed her slice of pizza. "Not at all, sir. The roads were clear and we had a pretty safe journey here", she assured him with a nod. Tatsuya looked at her, in what Akira knew was curiosity but everyone else probably understood as intimidation. "You drove?", Tatsuya once again asked, as any normal person does. Really, like a slugger who doesn't know the limit of his own strength and breaks doorknobs, the lion didn't know how intimidating he was.<br/>
"A-Ah, yes, sir. I have a license", Makoto explained, leaning forward for a split second. Ah, the armadillo curling instinct. Such a fascinating thing to see... Okay, calm down, Sir David Attenborough. Haru piped up in defense of her friend. "Makoto is an excellent driver, sir. She follows all the rules to the word". Ryuji stepped in as well. "Yeah! She even stops in yellow!", he said, eating an entire slice of pizza in one bite, "And she's even better with her motorbike!"<br/>
Ann elbowed Ryuji, who responded by making some undignified noises as he nearly choked on the slice of pizza. Ah, right. Most parents didn't like the idea of a friend of their son's driving a bike, right?</p><p>Tatsuya's face lit up.<br/>
"What kind of bike?", he asked, putting his burger down and crossing his arms over the table. Makoto blinked twice in surprise. "Oh, uh... It's a Phantom 5R Doubleshock PZ4", she explained, scratching behind her own ear. "Do you... Drive a bike as well, sir?"<br/>
"Nothing so modern. Just my Crimson RoadLion.", Tatsuya spoke, with the ghost of a smug grin on his snout. Makoto seemed impressed. "The last bike manufactured by BraumVreum! I've never dreamed of ever seeing one".<br/>
Ryuji decided to pipe up as well. "Hey, your bike's pretty sick, too, Makoto! It makes an awesome noise, too! Like Brrrm, brrm..."</p><p>Oh no. Oh, no. Ryuji, why.</p><p>The table was silenced with a sound of a very close motorcycle engine. Akira repeated in his head, like a mantra, how he shouldn't judge his parents and shouldn't think of them as embarrassing. Jun and Lisa were covering their faces with a hand, elbow on the table. Everyone else was speechless.<br/>
"T-The sound from the street really carries inside, huh?", Ann said in a nervous laugh. Ah. Sweet innocence.<br/>
Tatsuya provided them another one of his spot on impressions. All of the thieves were staring at him.<br/>
"T-That was YOU?!", Ryuji shouted, eyes wide, ears up, hands on the table and Ann's elbow to his side," -Gah! I-I mean, sir?!". The lion looked quite proud of himself. "I can also do construction equipment."<br/>
"You can?!"<br/>
"Yes, it goes sort of- <em>KALUNKGSHHHCRNKCRNKCRRRRRK</em>-"<br/>
"Tatsuya, not during dinner."</p><p>Jun and Lisa both shot the lion a <em>look</em>, and the table returned to their feast in an uncomfortable silence. Akira decided to intervene. This was worse than being embarrassed.<br/>
"Oh, did you know Haru has a garden on the school rooftop? She's great with plants!", Akira said, placing a hand on his father's shoulder to call his attention. The hare's ear cupped forward in curiosity. "Really? What plants do you have there?" Jun, the hardcore florist, asked, to which Haru replied with an extensive catalogue of the gardening club's hard work. He listened intently, fingers crossed together under his chin.<br/>
Oho, that was an excellent idea. Paralells between his friends and his parents were obvious now. The man so knowledgeable of the masks we wear in day-to-day life, with expertise in matching them to others... He knew exactly what to do.<br/>
After a while, Akira had managed to make everyone occupied with a pleasant conversation. Tatsuya, Makoto and Ryuji were back on their bike talk, now without any motor noises. Jun, Haru and Yusuke (who didn't know anything of the topic, but was participating anyway), were discussing gardening, and Lisa was telling Ann about her time in Muses. Turns out the Muses' photographer was still working, who knew.</p><p>Futaba sat on the chair next to Akira, with Morgana on her lap. "Hey, I know you said not to bring up Eatherman-Fay Anger-Ray..." The iguana muttered, leaning in so no one else would hear, "I saw some vintage figurines in the living room...". Akira gave her a doubtful look. "Hey, now! I don't get the season five hate, but I don't hate season two in turn! I'll admit it's got an excellent story and fantastic characters!", Futaba muttered again, defending herself, "I promise to grin and bear it if they say anything bad about season five. Please?".<br/>
Akira couldn't say no to her.<br/>
"Miss Akira's mom! Are you a featherhead too? I love those vintage season 2 figs in the living room"<br/>
"Oh, Pink Argus? I bought her when I was around your age, I think. We also have Red Hawk and Black Condor!"</p><p>The lioness, the gryphon and the iguana happily discussed season two of Phoenix Featherman Rangers for the remainder of dinner.<br/>
--</p><p>Dinner was done, goodbyes and promises to keep in touch were said, the rest of the phantom thieves were walked to the van and were waved at as they set off back to Tokyo. Akira finally returned home and dove into his bed. Morgana sat on his back.<br/>
"You're not falling asleep like that, are you? You didn't even unpack your bag", the tuxedo cat called, pawing at the back of Akira's head.<br/>
"MrrrrrI'll do it tomorrrrrow...", the black cat replied, rolling over so Morgana would get off his back. The feral cat sighed, padding to the foot of the bed and dragging the blanket over his friend. At least he did his best. It was hard to move anything when you had to drag it by biting into it.</p><p>"Are you going to bed, already?", Tatsuya's voice called from the door to his bedroom. Akira replied with a grumble. "Sir, tell him he should at least put on his pajamas!", Morgana meowed, trotting to where the lion was standing. The lion only crouched and scritched his cheek once more.<br/>
"Well, okay", Tatsuya replied, standing up straight again. Akira tried his best to not laugh at Morgana's offended meowing. He rolled once more to face his dad. "I wanted to ask you a question", the lion spoke once more, approaching his son with large steps. Akira sat up in bed, surprised by his father's serious tone.<br/>
The two stared at eachother for a while, Tatsuya's expression unreadable as always. Akira shifted uncomfortably. Was this going to be about his actions as a phantom thief? His mother did say they'd save the lecture for when he was home... But right now? After all that? He knew he was reckless. He knew he kept his parents in the dark and worried them a great deal. He knew he should've contacted them sooner, what else was there to bring up? What more could he-<br/>
"What is your persona?", Tatsuya asked, with a sheepish, playful grin. Akira stared at him, not fully processing the question. "What is your persona's name? Like mine is Apollo", the lion repeated, curling some of his mane's long fur around his finger.<br/>
"I... I can use a lot. Of them. Like you guys", Akira explained, stammering. "But, uh. At first it was Arsène. Then with Yaldabaoth it was Satanael. And now it's... Raoul. Arsène Lupin's middle name. Raoul".<br/>
Tatsuya smiled, nodding as he repeated the name, rolling the R into a purr. The lion crouched down once more and opened his arms for a hug, which Akira happily obliged. "Raoul. It's a nice name. A good thief, like you", Tatsuya spoke, still purring quietly.<br/>
"Thank you." Akira purred back, before shuffling out of the hug, "Now, I imagine all my uncles and aunts are visiting tomorrow, right? I should get some sleep". His father nodded, standing back up. "Sorry, son. We could only keep them away for so long", he said in mock seriousness, "So sleep well. Good night."</p><p>Akira closed his eyes and laid back down, hearing his father walk out of the room and close the door behind him. Morgana jumped onto Akira's bed once more, curled up near his head. "They're wonderful, kind people, Akira. I see where you get it from", the tuxedo cat commented, laying his head on his paws. "Thank you... Now, get some sleep. You'll have to put up with uncle Katsuya, tomorrow", Akira mumbled as he fell asleep.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Animal List:<br/>-----<br/>Ann: Gryphon. Get it, gryph<i>ann</i><br/>Ryuji: Ryu dragon. Get it, <i>Ryu</i>ji<br/>Haru: Spaniel.<br/>Makoto: Armadillo<br/>Yusuke: Fox, navy blue.<br/>Futaba: Green Iguana<br/>Sumire: Long Tailed Widowbird, Dark Red.<br/>--<br/>Also yeah, that was Hitoshura. Performing marriages at concerts. How did he get back from Conception Earth? Who knows</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Extra extra! A ballad of cats, tall and small</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Here iiiis the extra!<br/>Akira asks his parents if Morgana can stay with them.<br/>And!<br/>Katsuya brings a gift for Morgana.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>The day he was to leave for home stalked ever closer, as certain as sunrise and as hurried as a ravenous, savage wildcat stalked an oblivious doormouse.</p><p>Speaking of wildcats, there was one small, wild feline whose future whereabouts worried Akira.<br/>He'd told his parents about Morgana, in passing at least. Messages like "Me and Morgana went out fishing today", to which there would be the reply, "Who's Morgana?". What could one answer, given the supernatural nature behind their meeting? That he was birthed from the depths of mementos, a womb formed from the desires of all society? That they had met in a cognitive reality, created from the festering sins of a crooked, heinous man?</p><p>"My friend. He's a tuxedo cat. He's a pretty cool guy, but a bit full of himself".</p><p>No other questions were asked about him, which soothed Akira's worries about having to explain him further. Morgana was a complex little critter.<br/>The teenager was sure to follow up with idle chit chat in order to quell any qualms his parents would've had.<br/>"Me and Morgana saw a feral pigeon at school today. It was stuck in the bathroom"<br/>No need to mention it freaked out when it saw a feral cat. Mona was pretty offended at its reaction. 'As if I'd &lt;i&gt;ever&lt;/i&gt; want to eat disease-ridden vermin!', he'd commented in mortified disgust, tail twitching in repulse.</p><p>As one might guess, the two felines were, pardon the pun, thick as thieves. Where Akira went, Morgana went with, 'no feral animals allowed' signs be damned. The tuxedo cat acted as a big brother and the norwegian forest cat was glad to finally have a proper feline figure in his life. He felt guilty over just discarding his mother and dad like that, but how could he ever relate to them when they towered a good half meter over him?</p><p>When all was finally done and wrapped up with a pretty bow, the black cat had invited Morgana to live with him. Which the tuxedo cat only accepted after a good few minutes of brushing off his kind gesture. <br/>Yes, all was looking up. Akira wouldn't have to leave all of his friends behind, and he finally had someone to complain about the nasty tangles he managed to get in his fur. </p><p>There was just someone he had to inform of the situation first.</p><p>Laying down on his bed, just about ready to go to sleep, Akira skimmed through his recent messages.<br/>Just yesterday, Aunt Yukino had sent him a blurry picture of a giant Jack Frost Plush she had seen out in the wild. Akira was jealous he'd never get to meet that legendary plush.<br/>Some days ago, he'd sent a picture of some old Gas Chamber shirt he'd found while out shopping to uncle Eikichi, who had promptly replied with an avalanche of emojis with a few incomprehensible words scattered in between. Akira guessed it was easier to type emojis than letters with swordfish fins.<br/>Auntie Maya had sent him "Stay positive!! Stay Strong!! We all love you very much!" messages every week to which Akira always responded the same, "Thank you!!". They didn't make much sense now that it was all over and he was about to head home, but the cat treasured them anyways. <br/>Then there were all the messages with his Tokyo friends...</p><p>Akira scrolled back and forth between the messages with his parents. He usually just messaged one at the time, since the three never disagreed in front of him. He could ask something to one of them, and even if they'd say no, he still had two thirds of a chance of one of the others saying yes.<br/>What a trickster, huh?<br/>But this was a sensitive issue. Which one was most likely to at least consider Morgana staying? In their eyes, he was just a regular feral cat, right? Akira knew Morgana could take care of himself, but they didn't.<br/>The reader will now notice something important about this second to last sentence. The reader, now having read this interlude from the (objectively handsome) narrator, will put a pin on it and keep it in mind.</p><p>Akira decided to go with his dad, who barely knew how to text and was the most likely to be awake at this hour.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;dad, can I ask you a favour?'</li>
</ul><p>Alright, a bit weirdly phrased. That sounded like Akira forgot to buy milk or something. The cat deleted his message and tried again.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;dad i have something important to ask you'</li>
</ul><p>Okay, that was worse. That sound like Akira forgot to buy /really important/ milk. The cat's tail twitched from side to side as he focused.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;'dad, can morgana stay with us?'</li>
</ul><p>Direct. Short. Follow it up with a couple more messages...</p><ul>
<li> &lt;'he didn't want to impose on sojiro after i leave and he doesnt have anywhere else to go'</li>
</ul><p>Akira raised his head slightly to look at the curled up feral cat at the foot of his bed. His eyes narrowed in platonic affection as he laid his head back down.</p><ul>
<li> &lt;'he says he's fine living on the streets but i'd be worried he'd get caught or run over'</li>
</ul><p>The cat's ears flattened back at the thought. He ran his fingers through the fur of his cheeks to calm himself down.<br/>Well, that seemed liked a good first argument. Now, all he had to do was wait.<br/>And considering his dad's massive claws, maybe wait half an hour.</p><p>---</p><p>Tatsuya was never a big fan of keyboards. It started in his youth, when he accidentally ripped out a handful of keys from a keyboard in the Doubleslash cafè when trying to contact Baofu for rumours. He still remembered the sound of Eikichi's laughter and Lisa's snort... As Maya removed the keys from his claws one by one and Yukino paid for the damage. "Leave the typing to someone else, willya big guy?!", had called the sloth at the counter, killing any chance Tatsuya had of the rest of the cafè not hearing what happened. </p><p>It didn't end there, though. A good half dozen of flip-phones, all gutted on accident. His brother eventually bought him a smart-phone after noticing Tatsuya's phone had been stripped of  its keys because of the lion's massive claws.<br/>Of course, Katsuya never had that problem. He was obsessed with cutting his claws to blunt stumps, for one reason or the other.<br/>A smartphone at least forced Tatsuya to use his pawpads instead, but it sure made things difficult. Like taking half an hour to type out a coherent sentence.</p><p>After this introduction, let's get right to the action.</p><p>Tatsuya, exhausted from a particularly busy day, was sitting in his living room and watching TV. Nothing interesting, as expected. Folks talking about food on every channel, aside from one or two about baseball. Oh, and the feral animal documentaries. But those nearly always talked about lions and there was something unsettling about seeing his feral cousins maim and kill other creatures. And they described lions as deadbeat dads. Tatsuya sure wasn't one, he hoped. He knew he wasn't great at expressing his thoughts, but he tried his best to support Akira...</p><p>In that moment, like fate read his thoughts, his smartphone buzzed with a new message. Well, no matter who it might be, at least it was a distraction. The lion fished the phone out of his pocket. A purr rose from him when he saw who sent it (Akira), which quickly subsided when he read the message.</p><p>His friend? Stay with them? Nowhere to go?<br/>But didn't he go to school with Akira? Did something happen to his parents? Didn't he have any other family members - well, probably not, if Mr. Sakura had been an option. <br/>Tatsuya was probably furrowing his brows pretty hard at that, because his husband, just now coming up the stairs from their yard, noticed immediately.<br/>"If you're trying to decipher one of Eikichi's texts, you should just call him", Jun spoke, shaking his head, "I'm still lost on last week's message". <br/>There were a lot of meanings that "flying money, two men wrestling, gun, B symbol" could take, and the hare wasn't sure he liked any of them. </p><p>"No, it's from Akira", the lion spoke, showing the hare his phone, "He's asking if his friend, Morgana, could stay with us".<br/>Jun's ears lifted in alarm, as his eyes scanned through the text quickly. Tatsuya could tell he barely surpressed the urge to thump the floor with his foot.<br/>"Nowhere to go? Living in the street? But Morgana was going to school with Akira, right? Did something happen with his guardians?", Jun asked, looking back up at the lion.<br/>"That's what I was thinking as well... Hang on"</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'waT sabyeou hdI baurdoamd?'</li>
</ul><p>Jun frowned at the nonsensical string of words. "T-Tacchi, what is this...?"<br/>Tatsuya huffed.<br/>"The keys are too small. But he can still understand it, right?"<br/>Jun raised an eyebrow at him. The lion sighed and tried again, this time more slowly.</p><ul>
<li>&gt;'What a b out hss parents.?'</li>
</ul><p>Alright, that was good enough. At least it was readable.<br/>"You should be more clear, Tacchi. This sounds a bit like, 'And why don't his parents take care of him?'"<br/>The lion sighed once more and continued to type.</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'What a b out hss parents.? Did somednhing nappen to ghem.?.'</li>
</ul><p>Tatsuya looked back at his husband with eyebrows raised, in a 'Is that good enough?' expression. Jun nodded, sitting down next to the lion to get a better look at the text history.<br/>---<br/>Akira's phone rang with a overly cheerful tone that was probably a snippet of some popular anime opening. The black cat slept through it like a rock, but Morgana quickly took notice of it.<br/>"Heyyy. Someone's sending you messages again", the tuxedo cat yowled, hitting Akira's snout with his paw. Eventually, the teen rolled over and squinted at the lit up screen, searching around his bed for his glasses.<br/>"Oh, it's my dad. I've asked him if you could stay with us"<br/>Morgana sat up, wide awake. The black cat had told him that his parents hadn't agreed yet, but the tuxedo cat trusted him to convince them. Now that it was actually going down, reality had sunk in, and Morgana had lost all his faith in the guy before him.<br/>Akira's eyes flicked from side to side, reading the words on the screen, and his brows steadily furrowed deeper in confusion.<br/>"They're asking me about your parents?"<br/>Morgana blinked twice in surprise, shaking his head.<br/>"My parents?"<br/>The black cat lowered his phone to rest on his chest, turning his head to face Morgana.<br/>"Myeah, I dunno either. My dad's kinda weird."<br/>Morgana looked down at his own paws, tail flicking from side to side. Who in their right mind would ask about a feral cat's parents...?<br/>"If... We're talking creators, then Igor, I guess...?"<br/>Akira's ear flicked in thought. He looked up at the ceiling, crossing one of his legs over the other.<br/>"My parents don't have a good relationship with the Velvet Room Guys... I told you that my dad socked their boss, right?"<br/>"You did, and I'm still instinctually appalled!", Morgana commented, getting up from his sleeping position, "I guess it's complicated, then?".<br/>Akira nodded to himself, returning to his phone. Morgana, who was now, understandably, very worried, decided to leave the bed and take to pacing back and forth.</p><ul>
<li>&gt;'It's kind of complicated?'</li>
</ul><p>Akira looked away for a second, whiskers twitching in curiosity. What would've made his dad ask about a feral animal's parents...?</p><ul>
<li>&gt;'He really doesnt have anywhere to go, dad. cant you consider, please?'</li>
</ul><p>The black cat set his phone off to the side, again, linking his paws over his stomach. Nothing to do but wait and consider how to emotionally manipulate his parents, if it came to it.<br/>--</p><p>"If you two are trying to make heads or tails out of Eikichi's newest message, I think he wants to start an underground illegal fight club for money", Lisa said, having finally ended her daily training in the yard and entering their living room, "I'm not sure about the B, though."</p><p>Tatsuya and Jun were sitting together on the couch, both intensely focused on the former's phone. The lion merely motioned for his wife to come over and sit, as well. The lioness did, and it didn't take long for her to understand what was going on.</p><p>"Complicated? What could've happened with his guardians?", Jun muttered to himself, covering his mouth with a paw and looking away as his foot twitched anxiously. Tatsuya was deep in thought as well, rubbing strands of his mane between his claws. Lisa put a paw on the phone in order to turn it towards herself.</p><p>"Holeen... Well, place to stay or not, we don't really have space for another teen here...", Lisa commented awkwardly. She certainly hoped she didn't sound cold, but it was the truth. The house had been built for two small animals, tops, not two small animals and two giant big cats, one of which had to worry about her horns on top of everything. She and Tatsuya practically had to squeeze through every door, the stairs would threaten to break at their weight and it seemed like they had to bend down to use anything in the house. Jun and Akira, as small animals, managed pretty well, but adding a third one to the mix would certainly cause problems. Akira's room couldn't possibly fit another bed.</p><p>Jun and Tatsuya stared at her, then at each other, then at the animals on TV who were either talking about food in baseball or baseball themed food. They tilted their heads to the side, with the expression of someone who hadn't thought about that possibility.</p><p>The lion tapped the screen in order to type out another message.</p><ul>
<li>&gt;'no spacsse'</li>
</ul><p>"Chinyan, that sounds way too uncaring! Sure we don't have the space, but you don't have to talk about him like he's a fridge!"</p><p>"A fridge...? Lisa's right, anyway"<br/>Tatsuya grumbled to himself.<br/>"I either type clearly, or I type big messages"<br/>The other two gave him a look, and the lion returned to his tapping.</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'We hav e vaa  aa smsll house, sakira'</li>
</ul><p>"Oh, just give me that."</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'We have a small house, Akira. There's really no space for him to live comfortably with us. Are you sure there's no one for him to stay with?'</li>
</ul><p>Tatsuya looked at his paws, then at Lisa's paws, then back at his own. "How can you type so well?", the lion asked, a bit disappointed in himself. Lisa shrugged. "I had a lot of practice back in highschool", she explained, "Back when I was dating Chikarin I promised I'd give her every piece of gossip I heard from other girls, and I had to be fast and efficient". The lioness looked back down at the phone.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;'mom?'</li>
</ul><p>Crap, he figured them out. Right away too. Lisa didn't know whether to be proud or annoyed.</p><ul>
<li>&gt;'Haha, yeah. It was taking your dad hours to type anything readable here. But your dads agree with me, Mauu Zi'</li>
</ul><p>Now, to wait for the impending emotional blackmail.<br/>--</p><p>Dangit, he caught the attention of all three. Time to employ some emotional blackmail.</p><ul>
<li> &lt;'sojiro already has to take care of futaba and he only has leblanc, so they cant keep him.'</li>
</ul><p>Akira sighed to himself. Time to bring out the big guns.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;'he was my first friend here, mom'</li>
</ul><p>Not counting Ryuji, but overall not a lie.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;'and it was nice finally having another cat to talk to'</li>
</ul><p>Also not a lie.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;'can't you please reconsider?'</li>
</ul><p>Seal the deal. Convince them.</p><ul>
<li> &lt;'im sure he wouldnt take up much space, mom, he usually sleeps on my bed'</li>
<li> &gt;'He does?!'</li>
</ul><p>Okay, he wasn't expecting that.</p><ul>
<li> &lt;'yeah? i dont think thats very unusual'</li>
</ul><p>Akira scratched the side of his head. Sure their house wasn't very big, but it surely could fit a feral cat? And what was so bad about one sleeping on his bed?<br/>--<br/>Lisa put the phone down and linked her paws together, elbows on her legs as she leaned foward, resting her chin on her hands. <br/>"What's the matter?", Jun asked, looking over the lion's shoulder. The lioness motioned with her head towards the phone, still opened on the messaging app, laying on top of the coffee table.<br/>Jun and Tatsuya leaned forward to read the messages, and then copied her pose. <br/>No one knew what to say for a while. The TV host went on and on about some bowl of ramen. The three fixated their gazes on it.<br/>"Did he...", Tatsuya spoke up, falling silent shortly after, "Ever... Tell us anything?"<br/>The other two shook their heads.<br/>"Did he think we'd react badly...?", Jun pondered aloud.<br/>Lisa, one eyebrow raised and an unimpressed face, gestured back and forth between the hare and the lion. The other two looked at her, looked at her hand, then looked at eachother. Oh. Right.</p><p>The three animals remained silent for a good while. No one had any idea on how to approach the subject.<br/>"Ngh Ho Yi! Maybe we're jumping to conclusions!", Lisa suggested, snapping her fingers, "Akira was always very huggy, they could be good friends!"<br/>"Lisa, us three didn't sleep on the same bed - yes, just sleep, stop looking away, Tacchi - until we had been dating for three years".<br/>"Well, what bed would it have been? Not at any of our houses, we couldn't exactly tell our parents. My dad would've broken Chinyan's spine! Not to mention barely anyone didn't find anything strange about us-" Lisa gestured between her and Tatsuya "-hanging out with Jun! And then me and Jun went to college overseas... It doesn't matter!", Lisa waved off her own ramble, "If we just assume and we aren't right, it would be awkward and worse than assuming nothing between them".</p><p>Some more silence.</p><p>--<br/>This was too much reconsidering. They were taking too long.<br/>The sound of Akira's tail thrashing from side to side and hitting the bed was driving him nuts. Which only made his tail thrash more frantically. Barely resisting to scratch the sides of his bed, the cat put his phone down and lay his hands over his stomach, focusing on the one moth flying around.<br/>A voice resonated on the back of his head.</p><p>"My trickster, I would advise you turn your hunting instincts off for a blink" A chuckle. "And gaze upon your companion"<br/>Most of the time, Arsène/Satanael (who could tell, anymore?) just sat in the corner of his mind reading a metaphorical newspaper, so it was wise to heed his words when he decided to speak.</p><p>The cat lifted his head from his pillow to see what his persona meant. Akira noticed Morgana was focusing on the moth as well.<br/>A mischievous idea crossed his mind.</p><p>As surreptitiously as possible, Akira picked up his phone again, covered the speakers so the shutter noise wouldn't be heard, and took a picture of Morgana looking up at the moth with wide eyes.<br/>Perfect. It was like that one meme Futaba had sent him once. If his parents saw how polite Morgana looked, they'd have no choice but to let him stay.<br/>Just as he was switching back to the messaging app, a voice spoke up.</p><p>"Akira?"<br/>The black cat froze, the fur on his tail standing up on end.<br/>"What was that noise?"<br/>The teen placed a leg over his tail with a supressed yelp, trying to cover it.<br/>"N...Mmmnothing."<br/>Morgana stood up.<br/>"It wasn't nothing, Akira. If it was physically nothing, you would have been as surprised as me when you heard it. If it was metaphorically nothing, you would have said something along the lines of 'Just taking a selfie, my fur looks totes fluffy right now'" When did Akira ever say totes...? The black cat tried to match Morgana's cold stare, but a chill ran down his back when he tried to. "It was something, Akira".<br/>"Aaalright, alright. I took a picture of you to send to my parents so they'll think you're cute and want to keep you", Akira explained, expecting Morgana to admonish him but calm down anyway.</p><p>Such did not occur.</p><p>"What?!", it was now the tuxedo cat's tail's turn to fluff up, "You took a picture of me like that?! I-I-I looked like a complete idiot!". Morgana rushed over to the bed and jumped up on Akira's stomach. Oof. "Give me that! I'm deleting it before they see it!", the feral cat yowled, standing on his hind legs to reach up at the phone in Akira's stretched out arms.<br/>"Ooph- Ow- Hey! Be careful, geez! I didn't send it yet! Let me do it!"<br/>"You're lying! As soon as I let go, you're gonna send it and my reputation will be tarnished!"<br/>"What reputation? They think you're just a domestic feral cat, f-y-i! You don't HAVE one!"<br/>"You just don't get- it- c'mon, give me your phone!"<br/>"No! Let go, you don't even have thumbs!"<br/>"Stop shuffling around!"<br/>"Stop clawing my arms before I claw you back!"<br/>"Try me, you oversized kitten!"</p><p>No doubt all the hissing and yowling reached the neighbours, who were certainly wondering why in the world was feral cat fight club being held inside Leblanc.<br/>So much noise... That the two cats didn't notice the sound of a camera shutter going off.<br/>--</p><p>Just as Tatsuya's brain was struggling to process what he just read, the phone buzzed on the table.<br/>The lion squinted. It was a blurry image, and Tatsuya could only tell two vague shapes. He clicked on it to enlarge it.<br/>The lion stared at the image that filled his screen. He analyzed every single minute detail of it. The motion blurr, the action angle, the fingers that blocked the corner of the camera, the struggle it depicted. A struggle between a norwegian black forest cat (his son), and a tuxedo cat with a yellow bandana.<br/>A feral tuxedo cat.</p><p>Despite himself, Tatsuya couldn't help but snicker at the situation. At the classic comedy misunderstandings that just went down through text form. How Akira must've felt about his dad asking him about a feral cat's parents, his parents claiming their house didn't even have enough space for one little feral cat and being shocked that one slept on his bed. Heck, the whole thing was so ridiculous that his snicker evolved into a cachinnation mixed in with roars and purrs of amusement.</p><p>The other two, who'd gotten up to patrol around the house in order to digest the revelation they'd just witnessed, couldn't help but check in at all the noise the lion was causing. Tatsuya, shaking with raucous laughter, could only hold the phone in their direction. When the two saw it, well, they couldn't help but lose their minds over it as well.<br/>"It's a- It's a feral cat!", Lisa shouted between roars of laughter, pointing out the obvious, "Oh by Venus, of course it is! Of course it was a feral cat!". Jun hopped over, gingerly placing his paw on the lionesses elbow. "You j- You j-j-just-", Jun tried to calm himself down to speak clearly, "You just told him we didn't have enough /space/ !". The hare fell to his knees, succumbing to a fit of giggling. Lisa was holding him up by his shoulders. "Space? I was shocked he was sharing a bed with a feral cat!", she commented, barely holding onto Jun.</p><p>"Akira,", Tatsuya suddenly spoke in a deep and serious voice, standing stock still, "Tell me about your pet cat's parents".<br/>Laughter erupted once more between them.<br/>--<br/>Akira was simultaneously struggling to reach for his glasses, which had fallen off, and keep the phone out of Morgana's reach. Said phone buzzed in his paw.<br/>The two cats stood in their tracks, before trading a long, fearful look.<br/>The black cat was practically blind up close. All he saw from the text history was that his latest sent text was an image. <br/>Uh oh.<br/>Akira let the phone fall on his chest, turning to the side to frantically rummage on the ground for his fallen glasses. Morgana, meanwhile, was struggling to turn the phone around with his paws to read the text his friend's dad had sent them.<br/>When Akira finally returned from his glasses search, the tuxedo cat had accomplished his task and read the text, now looking rather relieved. The teen decided to read it for himself.</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'we d bd glad go have him, akira'</li>
</ul><p>Oh! That worked? That actually worked?<br/>Akira sighed in relief, putting his phone to the side. Morgana jumped over him, purring with pride, to sit down at the other side of the bed. <br/>The black cat affectionately headbutted the feral cat with a bit too much force, seeing as Morgana fell off the bed with a rather offended yowl.<br/>"You know what? I change my mind. I'm not gonna stay with a brute like you!",  the tuxedo cat complained as Akira cackled to himself, practically purring at his own mistake, "Nope! I'm gonna rule these streets as king Morgana. Then I'll have someone who'll respect me!"<br/>"I cherish you too, Mona"<br/>--</p><p>Tatsuya lay in his bed, arms crossed behind his head, taking care not to pin any strand of his mane against the pillow. Both Lisa (sleeping with her head raised so her horns wouldn't hit the headboard) and Jun (completely under the covers, curled up at nearly the foot of the bed) were sleeping soundly to his left. He would've purred, but fear of waking the others up and being mocked endlessly by his sappiness (Tatsuya didn't think he was sappy at all, but oh well) made him just smile and curl a lock of his mane around his claw. </p><p>The lion rolled to the side to reach his phone, left on one of the bedside tables. The photo of his son fighting with the feral cat for dominance over the phone had been promoted to lockscreen background. <br/>An idea crossed his mind. He opened a message thread that had been abandoned for some time.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;'Karduya'</li>
</ul><p>His phone buzzed a few minutes after.</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'What are you doing still awake?'</li>
</ul><p>Another message.</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'You know we have work tomorrow, right?'</li>
</ul><p>Another one.</p><ul>
<li> &gt;'I won't defend you before the chief if you fall asleep.'</li>
</ul><p>One more.</p><ul>
<li>&gt;'This better be important, Tatsuya'</li>
</ul><p>While his older brother went on and on about how irresponsible he was, the lion tapped the picture symbol to the side of the message box and selected the photo of the hour.</p><ul>
<li>&lt;
</li>
<li>&lt;'akira made a new fridnd in tokho'</li>
</ul><p>Katsuya's string of messages seemed to halt immediately, and Tatsuya chuckled to himself, a hum rising from his chest in amusement.<br/>The lion silenced his phone and set it on the bedside table once more, already expecting an onslaught of questions about breed, preffered type of collar, name and favourite type of tuna. </p><p>Just as he was falling asleep, he suddenly remembered something.<br/>Wait, did Akira say he talked to Morgana?<br/>====</p><p>Cats are naturally shy, reserved animals, so no one batted an eye at Morgana staying upstairs and not greeting the guests as they arrived. In a very cat-life fashion, he observed them out in the yard from a window in Akira's room.</p><p>It didn't take long to figure that none of his friend's aunts or uncles were blood relatives to any of his parents. Morgana came to that conclusion after a swordfish came in through the door, the infamous uncle Eikichi, who was so over the top Morgana could hear him from Akira's room. Also his wife, a catfish. Yeup, it was one of those 'friends of the parents are called uncle, aunt or... Auntcle.</p><p>Akira was busy being the cat of the hour, answering questions left and right about his probation in Tokyo, assuring that he was fine and safe and okay and nothing bad happened (seemed like the rest of his family never heard of his Phantom Thievery), and distributing souvenirs between everybody. That was why his bag was so cramped?!</p><p>While uncle Eikichi was waxing nostalgic about the vintage Gas Chamber t-shirt Akira found in a thrift shop and Auntie Maya (who was an owl and arrived before Eikichi, shocking Morgana quite a bit) about the vintage special edition season 2 Phoenix Rangers notebook, Akira had gone upstairs to call his friend.<br/>"Uncle Katsuya just arrived", the black cat said, in an implicit invitation of 'Come meet him!', "He probably has more gifts for you than for me". Morgana studied his expression, but didn't find any resentment. Akira just stated it matter-of-factly. The feral cat shrugged.</p><p>Morgana jumped on Akira's shoulder, balancing himself as they went downstairs. The tuxedo cat wondered what this 'uncle Katsuya' could be.<br/>A chameleon?<br/>A dragonfish?<br/>A stag beetle?<br/>A water bear?</p><p>His questions were answered when a regular-looking lion came into view, sporting red glasses and holding two tupperware boxes.<br/>Morgana couldn't help but notice that, aside from height, where this lion was somewhat shorter, he was rather similar to Akira's father. No way, an actual uncle?!<br/>"Uncle Katsuya! Hi!", Akira said, approaching the lion and pointing to the feral cat on his own shoulder, "This is Morgana!"<br/>Katsuya's face lit up as he searched his pocket for a tissue to wipe at his running nose.</p><p>"Welcome back, Akira. And-", Katsuya shot a wide smile at the tuxedo cat, "Nice to meet you, Morgana. I brought some gifts for you- ah, ehm, both of you, I mean". The lion handed one of the tupperwares to Akira, who immediately opened it to reveal a batch of homemade cookies.<br/>"Nice", Morgana heard Akira whisper to himself. Katsuya opened the other tupperware to reveal an assortment of cat treats.</p><p>"These are all homemade, too. I've heard you like fish, so some are made of salmon, some of sardine and some of tuna", Katsuya explained, pointing out that the different flavours of treats had different shapes, "Aurora was my taste tester and this was the batch she liked most, so I hope you like them too".<br/>Well, for once, Morgana wasn't feeling too hungry. Who the heck even makes homemade cat treats? But... This weirdo was Akira's family, so he should at least be polite and nibble on one.</p><p>It was the most delicious thing he'd ever tasted.<br/>"Sir!! Sir! You are a king of cooking! A god!", Morgana meowed, jumping from Akira's shoulder to rub against the lion's legs, "Take me with you sir!! I'll clean your house, I'll keep intruders out, I'll do your taxes! As long as you give me food! King! God! My messiah!!!"<br/>Akira raised an eyebrow at the feral cat who was now purring like a diesel engine, while Katsuya, blissfully ignorant of what Morgana was actually saying, chuckled happily.<br/>"Aww, I think he liked them! So cu... An.. Ahh..", Katsuya commented, before staring off into the horizon and covering his snout with his handkerchief in preparation for- "ACHOO!"</p><p>Sorry Morgana, it just wasn't meant to be.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So this was supposed to be posted, around... Yesterday? I had it completely ready, but then we got that surprise announcement for both smtV (I'm nicknaming the protag Fiver for now until we get an actual name/title) and smt3 remake (my tapeworm collector boy back at it again!!), I imploded with hype, and it took this long for me to calm down.<br/>I set the trailer as my alarm clock. Not any of the tracks in the Nocturne ost, not a snippet from the smtv trailer, nonono the ACTUAL entire trailer. That's Lost In The Hype Sauce rock bottom, man.<br/>I drew the picture myself, if you couldn't tell, hehe. Don't worry about Morgana's kind-of heterochromia, it just looked cool.<br/>--<br/>Anyhoo since this AU is already bat-crap nuts, now Katsuya also has a pet feral sphinx cat called Aurora. Named after Hyperion's daughter and Helios' sister.<br/>and lisa dated chikarin for a while in highschool but then they decided to call it a day in college because chika wanted to stay overseas I suppose<br/>===<br/>Katsuya: Barbary Lion, Dark red mane.<br/>Eikichi: Swordfish<br/>Miyabi: Catfish. She was almost a tuna but...<br/>Maya: Owl, possibly Eagle Owl. Haven't quite decided.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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